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Social media provides an untapped resource for exploring Moral Disgust. We therefore drew on ‘tweets’ about Moral Disgust (k=526) to better conceptualise the situations, people, and concepts users found Disgusting. Our Reflexive Thematic Analysis identified two themes and accompanying subthemes: Hierarchical Disgust and Third-Party Disgust. Hierarchical Disgust was constructed from expressions of Disgust directed to power structures, abuses of power, and leaders, whereas Third-Party Disgust comprised expressions directed at negative outcomes for others, often in the form of discrimination or harm. Both themes served as a form of group protection through out-group distancing and normative in-group policing. Importantly, this research extends classic Disgust literature (e.g. Tybur et al., 2013), presenting a novel approach to naturalistic data collection and providing future researchers with an approach to study other emotions, beliefs, and subjects that are expressed online.
Statton et al. (Thu,) studied this question.